Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 08_ Ascension - Christie Golden [37]
Natua’s eyes widened. She had not been surprised when she, along with most of the others who had suffered under Abeloth’s control, had not been permitted to depart with the Jedi fleet. But now it didn’t matter. Jaina Solo, who had fought her at the Coruscant Livestock Exchange and Exhibition, had asked for her help. Natua still remembered, with deep shame and regret, how Jaina had said, “I don’t want to hurt you.” Natua’s response had been, “But I want to hurt you.”
Even though her natural inclination was to fight rather than research, Natua Wan would never, in a thousand years, do anything but gratefully accept Jaina’s overture.
Besides … she knew Jedi weren’t supposed to focus on revenge, but she felt a deep sense of satisfaction in knowing that she could take part in tracking down the being who had so violated her mind.
Natua grinned at Medjev. “Tell Jedi Solo that it would be my honor to assist.”
ABOARD THE JADE SHADOW
THE LIST OF PLACES THAT JAINA, NATUA, BEN, LUKE, AND VESTARA had come up with read like a Top Ten Worst Places to Vacation, Ben thought as he looked at the names.
Dromand Kaas. Ziost. Krayiss II. Khar Delba. Korriban. And it went on and on. Ben didn’t know a lot about the specific history of each planet, but he was more than familiar with some. Like Ziost.
He watched with not a little unease as Vestara read almost hungrily about the history of her—hopefully—former people. She methodically crunched a muja fruit, studying silently while they ate lunch in the galley.
Finally, uncomfortable with the silence, Ben said, “Your soup’s getting cold.”
“Hmm? Oh, right. Thanks.” She took a single spoonful and resumed reading.
Ben fidgeted, then said, “So I thought you’d already be familiar with a lot of these places. Maybe even tell us about some new ones.”
That got her attention. She looked up from the datapad. “A lot of them are familiar. But the Omen’s data bank did suffer some damage, and a great deal of information was lost. Remember, we didn’t really have the technology until recently to recover lost data. And Ship was much more interested in bringing us up to speed on the current state of the galaxy than on its history. So yes, a lot of this is new to me.”
“Interesting?”
She gave him a level gaze. “Of course it is. Knowledge is power, Ben, and I know you know that. I was born a Sith, even if I’ve changed my mind about a lot of what they stand for and who I want to be. I bet even you think this is interesting.”
He couldn’t deny it. “Well, yeah, it is. But it’s kind of like watching a ship crash. You can’t take your eyes off it, but you don’t really like what you’re seeing.”
She shrugged. “Perhaps. The nature of this is nothing new to me, only the details. And don’t worry. I’ve got plenty of information on ancient Sith planets to share with you.” She waggled the ’pad. “This is definitely incomplete.”
“Ancient Sith planets, but not Kesh,” Ben said.
Vestara sighed and put down the ’pad. “I’ve been thinking about this,” she said. “I know that there’s a very good possibility that Abeloth and—and my father’s team have retreated to Kesh. But what I told Master Luke still stands. I’m afraid if I tell you where it is, every Jedi in the galaxy is going to converge on it and blast it back to the date that the Omen crashed. I can’t do that, Ben. I just can’t—and neither could you if you were in my situation.”
He stared into his soup. It was good soup, as such things went, with generous chunks of nerf meat and vegetables, but it was not holding his attention. Which was highly unusual, and a sign of how troubled he was by the direction the search was taking.
“I guess you’re right.”
She reached over and squeezed his arm. He glanced up from the